GERMAN OPEN, ESSEN
- May 10th – May 12th
- Swimming Center Essen-Rüttenscheid
- Meet Site
- Entry List
- SwimSwam Meet Preview
- Live Timing
- Live Stream
SwimSwam Germany Recap here.
Day 1 Highlights
Although the 29-strong German roster for this summer’s World Championships in Gwangju, Korea, was already announced, there is still a possibility for swimmers to gain last-chance bids in individual events during this 2019 German Open in Essen.
Jana Margraf kicked things off with a win in the women’s 200m fly, clocking a time of 2:15.60. Behind her was Amelie Zachenhuber who touched the wall in 2:17.68.
The men’s edition of the same race saw Yannick Plasil get the job done in 2:04.56. He has already qualified for the European Junior Championships in this event.
59.38 is what it took Lara Seifert to win the women’s 100m freestyle youth final, while sisters Lena and Laura Riedemann came very close to tying in the open final. Younger Lena logged a winning effort of 56.95 to tie Rosalie Kleyboldt for the Essen Ope title, while Laura finished just .01 behind for bronze in the nailbiter of a race.
Laura is already qualified for the World Championships in the 100m back, with Lena also on the European Junior Championships lineup.
No one managed to dip under the 50-second barrier, nor the 51-second barrier for that matter, in the men’s 100m free final, with Poul Zellmann‘s 51.05 representing the fastest mark. Zellmann is the nation’s fastest 200m freestyler this year with his 1:46.89 and has qualified for Gwangju in that event.
Jessica Steiger was too quick for the women’s 100m breaststroke field, logging the only sub-1:10 outing of the final. Steiger touched in 1:08.71, about a second off of her personal bet of 1:07.75.
Marco Koch won the men’s 100m breaststroke in a time of 1:00.98, not enough to qualify for Gwangju, although he will be representing Germany there is much better 200m breast event.